St. John's, Newfoundland.

After a 15 hour ferry ride from Sydney, NS, we arrive in Newfoundland! The ferry wasn't bad at all, really. Most of the ride we were sleeping.

Once on the island, the moose hunt started, 125,000-150,000 moose they say, you're guaranteed to see one, they say. Well, it took till Gros Morne National Park before we finally started spotting moose. 

A mama moose with her two little ones.

St. John's was an adorable little city, of course each day there, it was either raining or in heavy fog, but that only added to the experience. The jelly bean houses on the streets, (Gower street had the best colourful houses ;) ) were my favourite part of the city. I imagine in the winter, they cheer the townspeople up on those cold foggy winter days. Another thing I loved was how friendly everyone was, always willing to help you. The history in the city was very abundant, Signal Hill, St. John's harbour, Cape Spear (the most easterly point of North America), the many lighthouses, Terry Fox's starting point of his run (where he dipped his foot in the Atlantic Ocean). Of course Gower street was very exciting to see as well. 

I would say St. John's has been my favourite city across Canada, and I'd love to come back again to experience some more of it's charm. It was as cute as a jellybean. ;) 

Gower street! 

ETR: For readers information, don't ask yet. ;) 

Gabe. 

Prince Edward Island.

Okay PEI was adorable. So far it's one of my favourite spots across Canada. We spend five days in the tiny province and I now see why they call it the gentle island.

The ocean was much warmer then home. I was rather surprised stepped into the water, (only feet away from our Buggie site) and feeling the refreshing, gentle water splashing across my ankles and onto the red sand behind. 

The island, tiny as it is, was filled with caches. Bob and mum cached every day we were on the island, not even making a dent in them. Most of the caches were in huge trails, as they'd call them (The Confederation Trail had a cache every 180 meters or so...) and although these trails and strings of caches were interesting, the ones I enjoyed most were the single caches put out off the beaten path. We found one in a tiny little cemetery with graves dating back to the early 1800s, another cache was at a lighthouse with views off high cliffs and seabirds nesting on them. We walked on an old road going through acres of potato plants on the way the that one.

Here're the cliffs. 

Mum and I visited the Anne of Green Gables historic site, well Bob went caching. We spent the afternoon exploring the property. We had raspberry cordial, talked with Anne, and of course read some of the novel. Then bus loads of Japanese tourists piled in so we made a break for it.

It's Anne! 

Almost everyday on the island we enjoyed a cone of Cow's ice cream, and if you've never tried it before, I'd highly recommend it. It was amazing (we even toured their ice cream and t-shirt plant).

We spent one afternoon in Charlottetown, where mum and I found an adorable knitting store, and bought thrummed mittens, it took us forever to decide on a colour...

Red mittens!

I really can't think of much else we did on the island... It was just so adorable and scenic, very relaxing and  gentle. It was the perfect break from the cities. 

ETR < 10

Gabe. 

Being a tourist.

Throughout my trip across Canada, the one thing I've noticed most is, I won't accept I'm a tourist.

Every time we've stopped at a tourist attraction alone the way, I catch my self thinking, or saying aloud, 'I wish there wasn't all these tourists' (I guess it's the home soil, telling me I'm a local, no matter where I am in Canada ). I've explored all these interesting places, learned, and refreshed my memory about Canadian history, that I've failed to remember from Mr. Mansfield's Social Studies class in high school. And I still won't accept being a tourist is okay.
I guess what I've discovered is; if I want to see the attractions I've got to join the herd of tourists alike and get that mandatory photograph of Anne of Green Gables, accepting my tourist name tag.

It's Anne! Anne with an 'e'.

But when you need break from the herd, take a step on the beaten path, only the locals will tread...

Quiet road, through a potato patch.

Find those hidden gems every local knows about, the quiet beaches, barn style restaurants, the secret lighthouses, the hidden views, quirky restaurants and cafes... These are the places I love visiting, and experiencing. I always feel a true sense of the community here, and never like a tourist.

Of course this past week was mostly with the herd. We stayed a few nights on the Acadian Peninsula in New Brunswick, exploring the islands and having our first tastes of lobster (mine was to chewy. :( ).

We spent one night in Kouchibouguac National Park, riding bikes around, relaxing for once. Then later in the evening I convinced the oldies to go out past their bed time and hunt for rainbow coloured plastic chairs at 10pm at night (It was a scavenger hunt!). I do believe they had just as much fun as I did. ;)

Next we drove down to Moncton, NB, I quieter city, we watched the Tidal Bore. Soon we discovering that was the only thing to do in Moncton, we had an earlier then usual dinner of pizza, from a wood-fired, stone oven and went to the Magnetic Hill for an optical illusion! Who knew it would be so fun, we tried it three times. ;)
Finally we the next morning we joined the herd again and explored Hopewell Rocks and the Bay of Fundy National Park.

Time to visit PEI!

Time to go over the Confederation Bridge!

And there's the island! 

Sorry all, you'll have to wait for my next post to hear my stories of this little island. Hint: we visited Anne of Green Gables! (I know big shock, not like it was my first picture or anything...)

ETR: < :20

Gabe.

Coffee.

Oh coffee, where ever are you? I've searched and I've drank, I've smelled and I've watched, yet no good coffee to be found.

 I wake each morning to the sound of coffee brewing, the drip, drip, drip... Then the smell comes, it drifts over me and I long for that first sip. But this isn't coffee. I won't be drinking this 'coffee'. The bitter brown liquid certain people in our society (Bob) call coffee. This coffee is what The People of Stick only joke about using while the bosses are away. This stuff, is not for me.

Mum and I search for the real coffee, we drive through town after town searching for the good stuff, The Stick quality stuff, but no luck. Province after province, nothing. Zip. We know it is here somewhere, we are just sadly in the wrong place, we keep trekking on our way, dreaming of our Cappuccinos back at The Stick, in Sooke. Soon, we say, maybe the next town, we dream. Nothing. It's just not happening.

Many times we gave in and had Timmies iced capp (:((((((((((((((((). Or we'd give a place a chance, buying a coffee, but no such luck. At one place, I ordered a cappuccino, I thought this place would be good, (they had good chocolate...)  I had high expectations, and I actually started looking toward to that first sip, rather then dreading it. Then I saw the girl taking my order reach for a cup, plop it under a machine, and press the 'cappuccino' button. Sigh...

The perfect Stick Cappuccino.

Finally we find it....
Just when I'd given up hope on ever finding, that perfectly balanced sip of coffee, we find it. We are in Gaspé, QU, and they have our first sip of good coffee since The Stick.
I walk in the little shop, which reminds me of  a much smaller version of Ottavio's in Victoria, BC, with a small town feeling, like The Stick. The shop is stuffed,  people are crowded inside the shop waiting to order their cheeses, fresh baked bread, coffees, desserts, deli meats and cured meats, pastry's, plus groceries and beer (I still don't remember the name of this place).

Couldn't get much better. We order a personalized pizza to share, three coffees, a dessert each, fresh baked French bread, two cheeses, and a buy and bake pizza for later. The coffee came with a jug of milk that was slightly warmed. On a scale of Timmies (1) to The Stick (10 aka. perfection) I'd give it an 9.

With crèma and everything, there is is. :)

Well, I'm off to hunt for good coffee...

Gabe.

Gaspé Peninsula.

Ahh, the wilderness, how I've missed you...

We spent four nights on the Gaspé Peninsula, two of which in Forillon National Park.
The scenery was wonderful, beaches everywhere you look, sea birds flying overhead, waves crashing on the beach, wind rushing through the trees, high cliffs towering above us, moose quietly eating the new growth in the clear cuts, beavers happily building their beaver dams.
The Gaspé was unlike anything we've seen yet. The fog was the only downside, but even that was beautiful hanging softly over the cliffs.

We hiked on the International Appalachian Trail, for a short time, well on our way to Cap-Gaspé Lighthouse (at the tip of the park). The fog still lingered, so there wasn't much of a a view, but with the waves crashing below us and the smells of ocean spray in the air, you had a good sense of the surroundings.

Driving back to Buggie that night, we spotted a family looking at a beaver pond, of course we stopped as well.
We watched as three beavers swiam across their little pond, building a dam. The fattest little guy would bring arm loads of mud from the bottom of the pond and dump it on the wall, the next beaver, a smaller one, would hunt for sticks and plop them on the wall. The last beaver just swam around, not to sure what his job was..

Here's the fatty, with his mud.

Of course the other family and us started to attract attention from other drivers, before we knew it, there was around 25 people watching the happy little beavers.
We soon drove on, and just down the road we spotted a porcupine waddling off the road, into the bush. We were getting some good animal views today, now just to see that darn moose....

Mr. Porcupine!

Five minutes from entering the Buggie site, we make our last turn and there she is; the moose. The day is complete. We have spotted our moose.

She's there, keep looking.

 Just before leaving the park, we took a morning drive to a beautiful little view point. 

Down the road from the Gaspé, we reached Perce rock. arriving in the town, we drove down Buggies steepest hill yet, at 17%.

Coming down the hill to the town of Perce, and Perce rock. 

The rock!

At our last Buggie site in Quebec, mum and I rode around a quiet little trail, near the site. On the way back, I stop at a unfamiliar sound... But I know what it must be; a beaver. Yup, there he is chewing away at his tree branch. I was in shock, he was no more then five feet away, could it get any better? Mr. Happy Beaver grabbed his branch, and waddled away into the pond, it was the perfect beaver viewing experience.

ETR: Soon! 

Gabe ;)

Quebec City.

Quebec City was by far our most stressful city experience yet...

The city was beautiful, tall buildings surrounded you everywhere you went.
The people have very good English, almost makes you fall guilty for not having better French.
It is CROWDED (I didn't enjoy being a tourist in the downtown core).
Driving around was almost impossible. Not only are there different rules here, the signs are all in French.
There was to much to see and not enough time.
We walked around, a lot.
The food was very good (except for the first place we ate lunch. It was TERRIBLE!).
The local beer was good as well.
The history showed.
The city was disappointing, but at least there was pretty things to look at....

Tall buildings everywhere..

Lets all crowd around to take photos...

The art was interesting, to say the least. 

That's all for now, folks!

Gabe. 

A stop between.

After leaving Montreal, we decided to have a stop before heading straight to Quebec City, we all needed a brake before heading into another city (they are stressful!). We stayed two nights in St. Boniface, very near Shawinigan, QC.
On our 'day off' between cities, we drove through Mauricie National Park. The drive was about 60km, but we took most of the day to do it (we stopped many times).

First mum and I had a little hike around a beautiful lake, which was very tempting to jump into, but silly me didn't bring a swimsuit (it was so hot and humid, I was thisclose to going in without one, but a group of men had caught up with us, which ruined my plans...:( ).
Next, we drove on and found more lakes to stair at, but none as tempting as the first. After numerous look outs, bogs, lakes, beaches, and endless forest, we arrived at Wapizagonke Lake.

Wapizagonke Lake was nearing the edge of the park, and a very popular swimming spot. At this point, we were all hungry and thinking about the steak, waiting for us at Buggie. Just this one last stop, to see the Wapizagonke Falls...
Am I ever glad mum dragged Bob and I to see these falls, not only did we see some allrightlookingfallsthatreallyaren'tthatexciting#sorrymum, we saw a BEAVER!!!

This beaver was the happiest little guy I've ever seen, he was swimming around in his little beaver pond, living in his cute little beaver house, just not giving a shit that 200 feet away there was 100 to 200 hundred people running, sliding, swimming, rolling, screaming, you name it, these people did it, all over these falls. The happy beaver just did his thing, ignoring all of us.

There he is! You see him right!? (He's on the left..) ;)

So far, I'd say Mr. Happy Beaver here, has been the most exciting thing I've seen on the trip..

Gabe.